


Find Your Way Back Home

by ryiason



Category: One Piece
Genre: Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Light Angst, M/M, Mentioned Portgas D. Ace, Post canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:15:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29462625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryiason/pseuds/ryiason
Summary: Strawhat Pirate Crew disbanded. But like moths against flames, they slowly come back. And seeing their captain, the Pirate king, feels a lot like coming home.
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy/Roronoa Zoro
Comments: 5
Kudos: 55





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> yeah. No

When Luffy becomes the Pirate King, there are few things he has to give up.

One of those is his crew.

All of them already achieved their dreams with him and Luffy doesn't want to keep them if they don't want to. They're tired as he is, accomplished as he is, and has a home to go back to.

In Raftel, the last island they need to be to achieve their goals, is also the last island they said their goodbyes.

  
  
  
  


When all left except Zoro, Luffy turns to him, "Are you not leaving?"

Zoro shrugs. "Nah. I'm staying. I have nothing else to do."

_ I do have things I can do _ , is what he meant.  _ But I choose you _ , is what he doesn't say.

Luffy laughs,  _ shishishi _ , because he understands Zoro perfectly, because Zoro and him never needed words -- they just needed each other.

#

Luffy and Zoro left Raftel and wandered around for a while. They stop in islands, pay for food and sake, stay in an inn, buy another boat, set sail, and repeat. It takes them at least six months before finally reaching the Blues. Luffy decided to settle in a less-known island that they haven't heard of before.

"Aren't you tired," Luffy asks when they're eating in a restaurant. "Zoro?"

Is Zoro tired? He doesn't feel it physically. But he can feel the bone-deep fatigue that has been there when they fought Kaido, and when they kept fighting and fighting and  _ fighting _ . Zoro felt like he had nothing left when those times occur, but he looks at Luffy and his will gets stronger.

So… is he tired? Probably. But he has Luffy here, anyway, so…

"No." He answers.

Luffy isn't listening to him anymore, though. He's practically shoving every food available on their table in his mouth. Zoro drinks his sake.

  
  
  


Luffy rents a house. It's old and falling apart but it doesn't matter. What's important is, it has furniture inside already. They didn't need to buy and between Luffy and Zoro, they are hopeless about this.

"It would be easier if Nami is here." Luffy sighs.

_ But she isn't, _ Zoro thinks. And he doesn't blame her. Nami is feisty, cunning and loyal. But she's also just human. She needs rest, as much as everybody.

Zoro just settles with, "Franky would probably build the furniture, though."

Luffy chuckles. "Yes! With Usopp's help!"

At night, Luffy sleeps next to Zoro and Zoro wakes up in the middle of the night with Luffy wrapped around him like an octopus.

Zoro goes back to sleep. Pee be damned.

#

After a year, their old-and-falling-apart house is still falling apart, but it looks well-lived in. There are things that Luffy and Zoro can call their own.

Luffy bought his own refrigerator because a lot of town's people  _ adore _ Luffy and the first time the food went to waste, Luffy acted like someone died.

Zoro bought some weights he could use for training. He doesn't need to fight for his life in every turn but it's not like he has anything to do.

Luffy and Zoro bought  _ gifts _ for each other. Zoro bought Luffy a mini straw hat he saw in town and Luffy bought mini swords some kids were making outside their yard. It's not a lot, but it's theirs. Sometimes, Luffy looks out the window and wonders about  _ everybody _ else. Zoro doesn't try to fill the silence. He wonders about that, too.

Until a knock is heard from their door.

"Oi, Luffy, did you ask someone to cook for you again?"

"What?! No! We already decided to eat in Ma-chan's restaurant, right?"

"What?" Zoro snarls. "So, who's knocking?"

Seeing Luffy doesn't make a move to open the door, Zoro does it for them and when he does --

"Hello." A smile.

Zoro blinks. "Robin?"

He can hear Luffy standing up from where he's sitting. " _ Robin? _ "

"Yes. Hello, Luffy, Zoro. It's nice to see you."

"W-what are you doing here?"

"My Captain is here. Of course, I'll be here. Though, I did wonder if you guys are still alive. Considering the place looks like --"

"Enough with the morbid jokes." Zoro frowns. "Get inside." He sees a box besides Robin. He bends down and takes it. "Now, get inside."

Robin smiles as she walks inside. She looks around; her eyes look amusing, like she has several jokes inside her head. She sits besides Luffy and kisses his forehead. "I'm home, Luffy."

Luffy has always been emotional -- cheerful, smiley, and happy -- but he rarely cries. When he does cryd, it's for a reason. So, when Luffy cries in Robin's chest as she embraces him, Zoro just puts the box upstairs.

  
  
  


There are three available rooms upstairs. Four, originally, but Luffy and Zoro use the first room on the left, near the window. Luffy likes the sunset in the hallway.

"You sleep together?" Robin asks when Zoro helps her fix the room next to theirs.

Zoro grunts. "Yeah. Why?"

"Nothing. It just doesn't seem right. I will have to sleep alone?" Robin looks utterly defeated -- or as defeated as Robin can be.

So, Luffy and Zoro took the mattress they're using downstairs and put it in the living room and they bought a pink couch/bed for Robin. Zoro puts the mattress and couch/bed beside each other while Luffy watches Robin cook in the kitchen. Their lunch is held in Ma-chan's restaurant where Luffy introduces Robin as one of  _ his. _ The townspeople just nod and smile and ask Robin what's her job and how she met Luffy. Zoro watches Robin say half-truths and half-lies, he snorts.

At dinner, Robin heats up the food she made at noon. Robin and Luffy talk while Zoro listens.

"I visited Ohara for my mother and the people who took care of me when I was a child. I told them what I have achieved. And then it took me a few months to get the things they left behind that I can still use. And another few months to find where you are. This island you choose to settle down on is too peaceful."

Luffy laughs. "It's what we like about it!"

"Yeah, the quiet is nice." Zoro adds.

Robin giggles.

When it's time for bed, Luffy falls asleep so fast while hugging Zoro.

"It's nice that you're here." Zoro says.

Robin is still reading a book while lying down in her bed. "Really?"

"Luffy…" Zoro thinks of the times Luffy stares at the window, at the children playing outside, at  _ nothing _ . "He's lonely without you."

Robin breathes. "I know."

Zoro can imagine the  _ I know _ . She was gone for almost two years and Luffy is like a drug you can't get out of your system.


	2. Chapter 2

Luffy decides to visit his hometown. He said something about a Makino and a Dadan and Zoro can't make sense of what he's talking about so he just decided to follow him.

Considering there was nothing  _ that _ valuable in the house -- except Robin's books, that she said will be fine -- all of them left. A ship from the town will be dropping them off in Luffy's hometown and then picking them up a few days after. Luffy is already running towards the ship when Zoro sees Robin still writing on a piece of paper.

"Robin?"

Robin writes a little faster. She finishes and drops the paper off in her bed. "Let's go."

Zoro would ask what it was about but it's not like he doesn't trust Robin. So, when Robin leaves, Zoro just locks the door and follows Robin who keeps dragging his feet every time he strays a little.

  
  


#

  
  


A man with an unusual shoulder enters Ma-chan's restaurant. She doesn't ask what his deal is. She knows the Age of Pirates is over, a new Pirate King has been announced but Pirates are still pirates.

But, all of her expectations fall down when he asks, "Have you seen a cheerful man around here? Scar underneath his eye? Also, an algae with him? And a very attractive brunette with them?"

Ma-chan's face clears. "Yes! They just left, actually. Are you their friend?"

"You could say that, yeah. Do they live around here?"

"Yes. One of those old houses in the subtown."

The man looks annoyed. " _ Old _ ?"

  
  
  


#

  
  
  


Old… old is putting it kindly.

Franky punches the door and walks inside. If the outside is old, the inside isn't much better but it looks like someone actually lives here. Which, he doesn't know yet if it's good or bad, honestly.

"Damn it. What kind of house is this?" Franky complains. "Is this what they have been living in? Are they that dysfunctional without me?" Franky feels his tears fall. "My Captain can't be living in this garbage!"

He walks further and sees a makeshift Queen's bed. A bed that he knows Zoro and Luffy are using and another pink bed/couch that has to be Robin's. In her bed, Franky sees a letter. He picks it up and all it says:

_ Franky, _

_ I know you're coming. You can do what you want. Will be back. _

_ Truly yours, _

_ Robin _

_ P.S _

_ Welcome home x _

He cries. Silently. Not the kind of tears he usually reserves for the things that makes him cry easily.

No, this one is reserved for the kind of tears he had when his father-figure died, when the Sabaody incident happened, when Luffy achieved his dream to become Pirate King.

He didn't want to leave Luffy but he needed to go back to Iceberg and check up on him. He needed to know if the Franky family is still alive and okay. They were his little brothers -- still is, and he was planning on going back to Luffy after a year. But Franky was needed in Water 7 for a bit and he enjoyed the companionship it provided him, but he could only stay for so long before he became restless. Because after Strawhats, things like going back to his childhood home is only good to be visited but never to be stayed at.

That's all.

Franky decides right there and then, to make the best house he could possibly make in his entire career.

Also, this house is literal  _ garbage _ .

  
  
  


#

  
  
  


Dadan, Zoro finds out, is the woman slash bandit who took care of Luffy and his brothers when they were children. She had a  _ lot _ of stories -- embarrassing or otherwise -- about his captain that he and Robin enjoyed listening to. They party, drink, and eat like there's no tomorrow. But when everything is said and done, when Luffy is asleep, and only half of the world is awake; the quiet comes.

And it comes with Ace.

Ace's death took a toll on everyone who knew him, Zoro thinks. Even the people who the world had seemed to have forgotten kept remembering him. Ace is like in every corner of every room Zoro has been to, like colors bursting into seams.

"I have to apologize." Zoro says.

Dadan, who's halfway from drinking her sake, raises an eyebrow and puts down her cup with such vigor, Zoro wonders why it didn't break. "For what?"

"When Ace died.." Zoro can still remember it clearly, on how Mihawk had told him that Ace died in Luffy's arms. "We weren't there for Luffy. There was… there was nothing we could have done for Ace, it was his decision to die. But Luffy…"

Dadan chuckles. "No need to apologize for something that happened a long time ago. And I'm sure Luffy had become a pain in the ass for you all. What matters is that he's here and he's alive. And as you are, as well."

Zoro nods, has nothing to reply to her.

And Dadan has nothing to say to him as well.

Robin, who's just listening to them, stands up and sits down next to Luffy to put his head in her lap and pats his hair like a dog.

They enjoy the silence.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Makino names her child Ace and she also has the same look in her eyes when the late Luffy's brother is mentioned.

_ That _ look. Look of regret and sorrow and acceptance that he's gone.

They party again because the whole town apparently adores Luffy and the mayor, for the first time in his life, pays for the food and drinks everybody is about to consume.

Zoro realizes Luffy is gone from Makino's bar when he doesn't feel his captain's presence. Usually, this doesn't concern Zoro but a part of him thinks somebody has to be with him in these times. He gives a look to Robin, who nods, and walks out the bar.

Zoro has done the right thing to stay with Luffy. Everybody else can do what he can't.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Robin finds Luffy on the edge of a cliff, sitting down and looking at the moon. She walks towards and sits by his side. She doesn't talk, there's no words she could say that could make this better for Luffy.

"Sometimes, I wish I could tell him." Luffy says.

And Robin gets it. It's the same feeling she had when she came back to Ohara and wanted her mother and everyone to know that she found out what they died for. That whatever it was the World Government killed them for was worth it. Because if it wasn't, their deaths would have been in vain.

So, Robin lays her head on Luffy's shoulder and closes her eyes.

"He knows." Robin replies. It's what she tells herself. It's a lie, of course but it's a lie that she can believe.

  
  
  


#

  
  
  


Ma-chan's bar is close and the only reason why Franky had access to it is because he used Luffy's name. He's in the middle of making the blueprint for the most SUPER house he'd ever make when she feels her presence.

"Seriously, Nami, this bar is closed, you know?"

"Why are they living in that garbage?" Nami angrily sits across him.

"Don't worry. I'm about to make the house. Why don't you try living in the inn?"

"And sleep alone?"

"Good point."

Nami asks, "Where are they, anyway?"

"Heard they went to Luffy's hometown." Franky doesn't stop writing. "Did you see the location I chose?"

"Yeah. It's a good place. I'm not sure during the day. I have to check it out."

Franky smiles at her. "It's beautiful in the morning, too. But you're right. I will need your opinions on where to put the windows, anyway."

"And make a room that will fit all of us." Nami rolls her eyes. "I saw the beds."

"I know! Between Jinbei and I, we might  _ not _ even fit."

Franky and Nami chuckle.

  
  
  
  


#

  
  
  
  


Jinbei sneezes as he says his goodbyes to the Fishman Island.

"You okay?" Aladine asks, frowning.

Jinbei sniffs. "Yes. Just my crewmates probably talking about me."

_ And he's right. _


End file.
